Distress (4730) (stenochoria from stenos = narrow + chora = place) is literally a narrow place, a confined space and then the painfulness of associated with this condition. Vincent comments that the “dominant idea is constraint." Stenochoria pictures finding oneself in a "tight corner", hemmed in with no way out, in a narrow strait without the possibility of escape. Stenochoria might be used of an army caught in a narrow, rocky defile with space neither to maneuver nor to escape. It might be used of a ship caught in a storm with no room either to ride it or to run before it. There are moments when a man seems to be in a situation in which the walls of life are closing round him -- that is the picture inherent in stenochoria. The opposite state, of being in a large place, was metaphorically used to describe a state of joy as in Ps 118:5 (Spurgeon's note) where the psalmist writes From my distress I called upon the LORD. The LORD answered me and set me in a large place. Stenochoria occurs 4 times in the NT... Romans 2:9 (note) There will be tribulation (thlipsis) and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, Romans 8:35 (note) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation (thlipsis) , or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 2Corinthians 6:4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions (thlipsis) , in hardships, in distresses, 2Corinthians 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. In Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Hebrew (LXX), stenochoria is used to picture the horrors of confinement by a siege, Moses recording Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you. (Dt 28:53) The other 7 uses of stenochoria in the LXX are found in Deut 28:55, 57, Esther 1:1, 4:17, Isa 8:22, 9:1, 30:6. Albert Barnes writes that stenochoria means literally narrowness of place, lack of room, and then the anxiety and distress of mind which a man experiences who is pressed on every side by afflictions, and trials, and want, or by punishment, and who does not know where he may turn himself to find relief. It is thus expressive of the punishment of the wicked. It means that they shall be compressed with the manifestations of God’s displeasure, so as to be in deep distress, and so as not to know where to find relief. Stenochoria metaphorically refers to great anxiety and distress of mind, such as arises when a man does not know where to turn himself or what to do for relief. It conveys the idea of anguish (which Webster defines as extreme pain; distress of mind and suggests torturing grief or dread ), dire calamity, extreme affliction or distress. In three of the four NT uses (Ro 2:9; 8:35; 2 Co 6:4) stenochoria is found with thlipsis. Whereas tribulation (thlipsis) emphasizes troubles pressing upon us from without (e.g., persecution, etc). Stenochoria has in view the distress which arises from within (usually caused by thlipsis), such as anguish or discomfort. Trench concludes that stenochoria is the "stronger" of the two words. Besides capital punishment, solitary confinement has long been considered the worst form of punishment, being the absolute, lonely confinement of a prisoner who is already strictly confined. Part of hell’s torment will be its absolute, isolated, lonely, and eternal confinement, with no possible hope of release or escape. Four terrifying words in (Romans 2:8, 9) suggest a series of cause and effect. The first wrath (orge) indicates God’s attitude toward sin, the second indignation (thumos) the expression of that attitude, the third affliction (thlipsis) the result there from, the fourth distress (stenochoria) the realization of entire helplessness. These four descriptions stand in dramatic contrast to eternal life. If this picture of contrasting destinies does not get a sinner's attention, what will? In each contrasting destiny there is a conscious experience either of woe or of blessedness! William Newell sums this section up noting that in the tribulation... the visitation strikes its object. The false peace (cf 1Thes 5:3-note) of his hardened, impenitent earth-life is now horribly broken up by direct visitation from God in vengeance. Finally, anguish: which sets forth the result of that tribulation which meets the lost directly from an angry, indignant Creator and Judge. "I am in anguish in this flame, " cried lost Dives, in Hades (God's prison for the lost until the Day of Judgment). What unspeakable horrors, then, will that Day bring! (Romans 2) FOR EVERY SOUL OF MAN WHO DOES EVIL: epi pasan psuchen anthropou tou katergazomenou (PMPMSG) to kakon: (soul Ezek 18:4; Mt 16:26) (for evil click kakia) (soul in ISBE, evil in ISBE) For (epi) - Here the preposition epi is more literally translated upon, which more dramatically pictures the tribulation and distress as if they were coming down upon every rebellious soul. In Ezekiel God declares... Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die. (Ezekiel 18:4) Jesus speaking of men's souls asked one of the most piercing question in all eternity... "For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mt 16:26) This future aspect of God's wrath is dramatically illustrated by John who describes "huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, (coming) down from heaven UPON men and men (blaspheming) God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe." (Rev 16:21 - note) John gives us a similar picture of this aspect of God's wrath even in the present age of grace noting that "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides (continually = present tense) UPON him." (John 3:36) Every soul of man - This phrase expresses the equality and universality of the treatment dealt out by the just Judge of all mankind.